Almost every analyst agrees that a leader, in business or elsewhere, must inspire trust. But not too many folks go on to answer the next question: how can leaders create trustworthiness?
Roderick Kramer, Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford’s Business School, does just that in a recent post to the Harvard Business School’s leadership blog, reviewing recent research on the topic.
First, he says, leaders need to credibly communicate that they are genuinely and diligently working for “the well-being and security of their constituents.” Sound obvious, but Kramer quickly adds that good intentions aren’t enough.
The second thing leaders must do is convince people that they are competent. We need to know leaders share our intentions, and they can deliver on them.
Third, leaders must be transparent to earn our trust. That is, “we expect leaders to be transparent about the procedures they use when reaching major decisions, and we expect them to be equally honest and forthcoming about the consequences of those decisions.”
Fourth, and perhaps most surprising, Kramer says we expect “our leaders to be appropriately vigilant.” Former Intel CEO Andrew Grove liked to say, “Only the paranoid survive, ” because he knew that complacency and inattentiveness could be fatal.
Finally, Kramer says it’s a good thing that trust is fragile – hard to create and easy to lose. Leaders should have to work hard to get it and keep it.
